Landis+Gyr traded around 77.30 Swiss francs ($81.35) in early trading on the Swiss bourse on Friday, slightly below the 78 francs they sold for in the IPO.

The IPO was priced towards the upper end of its 70-82 franc target range and gave Landis+Gyr a market capitalization of 2.3 billion Swiss francs, making it the biggest Swiss IPO since Petroplus in 2006.

Landis+Gyr was majority-owned by Japan's Toshiba and had said it wanted to cut ties with its scandal-hit parent.

Toshiba bought a 60 percent stake in Landis+Gyr in 2011 but had to sell its shares, along with other assets, to raise funds to cover losses at its bankrupt U.S. nuclear unit Westinghouse. It is also embroiled in a potentially costly accounting scandal.

Landis+Gyr had pursued a "dual track" approach of preparing for an IPO while leaving the door open for an outright sale.

However, the company opted for the IPO track after the two final bidders for the firm were not willing to match the price Toshiba expected to receive through the public listing, Reuters reported.